Jeff Birchfield

Marty Story has been successful as the coach in the 3:30 games. Now, it’s his opportunity to try his skills at the varsity level.

Story, 45, was named head girls’ basketball coach at David Crockett on Wednesday, replacing Will Conley who resigned back in April.

Story, who compiled a 52-20 record with the Crockett junior varsity team, served as Conley’s assistant for the past two seasons and one season as an assistant to Rebecca Muncy before that.

He believes the success in those early games can carry over to the later ones.

“I believe one thing I brought to the jv program was the intensity,” Story said. “We got after it every night we stepped on the floor. We played hard, played aggressive and we played together. That can easily transition over to the varsity side. I think the relationships we’ve developed the last three years I’ve been there also makes a tremendous difference between winning and losing.”

Best known to local fans as part of the famed ETSU group led by Mister Jennings, Greg Dennis and Calvin Talford, Story was often the undersized, hard-nosed player at the No. 3 and No. 4 positions.

He often talks about the camraderie shared by that special group of Bucs. Jennings and Talford were among the first to congratulate him after getting the job and another former teammate, Rodney English, who was named the boys’ head coach at East Hamilton back in March, has often passed along words of encouragement.

The whole group including guys like Chad Keller, Major Geer, Trazel Silvers and Alvin West have remained good friends and that’s something Story passes on to his own teams.

“I try to instill in practice and in my talks with the girls is how our relationship was amongst each other,” Story said. “How much we believed in each other, we hung with each other and we wanted to see the other one succeed. We not only wanted it for ourselves, but for our teammates. For me, that relationship is everything. If you establish that strong relationship, you’re going to be better on the court.”

David Crockett athletic director Josh Kite said Story was a logical choice. He talked about how the community appreciated both his toughness as a player and his work ethic coaching at Elizabethton and Crockett.

“Marty is a winner as a player and a coach,” Kite said. “Everybody around the community knows Marty’s success on the court. He’s proven to be a winner as the jv coach. I have 100 perfect confidence he’s going to get the job done. He’s the right man for the job.”

While the Lady Pioneers won only seven games the last two seasons, Story explained the cupboard is not bare. If all the players return from last season, there will be six seniors on the 2014-15 roster.

“The six seniors, I think it’s huge,” he said. “Anytime you have that many seniors, you have the potential for great things to happen. The relationship between our senior and junior classes, they’ve both developed the desire to win games. That part, we don’t have to worry about. It’s now getting stronger playing together and continuing to have that ability to compete.”

Kite said he knew the right choice had been made when Story was introduced to the team. Beyond the background of an accomplished athlete who began his college career playing football at Clemson, he already had a special connection with the players.

“The relationship that he’s built with these girls is phenomenal,” Kite said. “When I introduced him to the team, to see those girls smiling, it gave me goose bumps. I’m very optimistic about what’s going on with our girls’ basketball program. The administration and I have the utmost confidence he will get the job done.”

Story, who was a three-sport athlete for Greeneville back in his playing days, thanked Kite, along with Washington County Director of Schools Ron Dykes and David Crockett principal Andy Hare for the opportunity. A major goal for Story is to bring some stability to the program after becoming its fourth head coach in six years.

“That’s one of the things the seniors stressed to me,” Story said. “We’ve finally got somebody we know, that we’ve been with, that we know what he expects of us. We know he’s demanding, but he’s fair and he’s going to put us in good situations.”